To understand
the Year of Jubilee, one must first be familiar with the Sabbatical Year, which is observed every seventh
year (Ex.
23:11; Lev. 25:20; Deut. 15:9; Neh. 10:31).

The Sabbatical Year is also known as the Year of Release, because farming and debt payments were released
(discontinued) for the year (Deut. 15:1-2; 31:10). This was initiated
at the closing of the Feast of Atonement.

Year of Jubilee’s timing was to years (50) what the timing of Feast of Weeks (Shavuot / Pentecost) is to days (50). The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot
/ Pentecost) occurs on the 50th day; i.e. the day after seven
weeks, plus 1 day after Passover. The Year of Jubilee occurs every 50th year; the year after seven Sabbatical
years (49 years) according to Lev. 25:8-11.

The Year of Jubilee begins at the end of 7
Sabbatical years of 7 years, and at the end of the Feast of Atonement / Yom Kippur per Lev. 25:9. Jewish historian, Josephus believed that
the word denoted ‘liberty’ (Antiquities
of the Jews 3.12.3).

First, the shofar (ram’s
horn) was to be blown at the end of the Feast of Atonement / Yom Kippur to announce that the Year of Jubilee
had commenced, Lev. 25:9.

Second, all hired workers were to be set free,
Lev. 25:39-54. This was unconditional
liberty. All bond-slaves were released, even if the Jubilee Year came before the completion of their six years
of service.

Third,
all land was to be returned to its original owner, Lev. 25:13, 23-28.

The primary reason for the Year of Jubilee was to prevent oppression in Israel, according to Lev. 25:14, 17. An Israelite could hire
himself into the service of another to retire a debt, but he had no right to sell himself or his family forever into slavery.
The Lord alone owned the sons of Israel since He had redeemed them out of Egypt, Lev. 25:42, 55. In similar fashion, an Israelite could lease
his land for a term of years, but he had no right to permanently sell his tribal inheritance. The Lord alone owned
the land of Israel, Lev.
25:23.
God, as Sovereign King of the universe, owned the people and the land.

The Year of Jubilee, initiated at the close of the Feast
Of Atonement, looks to the restoration of Israel by the Messiah, and to the resulting messianic Kingdom of peace.

Daniel prophesied that a Gentile oppression would become unbelievably severe at the end of this age.
A wicked Gentile ruler will arise and “he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies
against the God of gods” Dan. 11:36. This ruler will bring terrible persecution upon Israel: “A time of trouble, such
as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered” Dan.
12:1.

When Messiah comes, He will break the chains of
Israel’s oppression. But this deliverance will come only when the nation has first repented of her sin.
The nation must repent (Feast of Atonement / Yom Kippur) before the shofar will sound the release of her captivity (the
Jubilee Year). In Messiah’s glorious day, Israel will return to the Lord and, subsequently, will no longer
be bondslaves of the nations, but the redeemed servants of the Living God. Israel’s oppression will be ended!

When Messiah comes, the great shofar will be blown, and the exiles of Israel will be regathered to their land.
“So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet / shofar will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in
the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem“
Isaiah 27:13.

In that day, Satan will be banished (Ezek. 28:2,8,13-19), and the rebellion of wicked men will be crushed, Ps.2:9. In that day, the sons of Israel “shall trust in the name of the LORD” (Zeph.3:12) and “walk in the name of the LORD our God Forever and ever” Micah 4:5. And in that day Messiah shall
establish the throne of David and the messianic Kingdom “even forever”, Isaiah 9:7.

Finally, in Messiah’s glorious day, there will be Jubilee rest for the land and freedom for God’s people. Everyone shall sit “under his vine and under his fig tree. For
the mouth of the LORD
of hosts has spoken” Micah 4:4.

For more than 80 years before the Exodus,
the Israelites had been slaves in the land of Egypt, without freedom and without possessions. When they reached the land
of Canaan, Joshua divided the land among their tribes and their families, so that each had his own inheritance. Every adult
male among them became a land owner. This land was a permanent possession that could never depart from his family. If a
man became poor he could sell part or all of his land, but only temporarily. It would always revert to him or his
descendants at the year of jubilee. If he became even poorer and was unable to pay his debts, he could sell himself into
slavery, and work to pay off his debts. Again that slavery could only ever be temporary. When the great Day of Atonement
in the year of jubilee came he became a free man once again and repossessed his inheritance.

The most unusual observance that God
commanded the Israelites through Moses was the keeping of the year of jubilee. For most people this celebration occurred
only once in their life time, and for many not even that, as it occurred only once every 50 years.

At this year of jubilee all Israelites
who had sold themselves into slavery were set free, and all land that had been sold reverted to its original owner. This
meant that no Israelite could ever be in permanent slavery; nor could any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance.

The English word jubilee comes
from the Hebrew word yobel meaning a trumpet or ram’s horn. These rams’ horns were blown on the Day
of Atonement to announce the start of the year of jubilee. The word jubilee should not be confused with the word
jubilation which comes from a Latin word meaning to rejoice. The year of jubilee was no doubt a time of
great jubilation, but the similarities of the two words are (at least humanly speaking) a coincidence.

To understand the year of jubilee more
clearly we must first review the concept of the Sabbath.

Sabbath observance was part of
the ceremonial law that God gave Israel through Moses. Normally we think of the Sabbath as a day of the week, but its meaning
in scripture is much wider. Its teaching applies not only to the seventh day of the week, but also to the 7 festivals of
Israel’s calendar and to periods of 7 years and 7 times 7 years. Such is its importance that, unlike any other part
of the ceremonial law, its keeping is even one of the 10 commandments.

The words of the fourth commandment are: ‘Six
days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do
any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within
your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on
the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.’

The ancient Israelites understood the Sabbath
as a literal day of the week, the seventh day which corresponds to our Saturday. On that day they strictly refrained from
all work. This was a sign and covenant between them and Yahweh their God, which separated them from the tribes who surrounded
them.

In
Exodus 31: 15 God prescribed the death penalty for anyone who broke the Sabbath. ‘For six days, work is to be done,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.’

In Numbers 5, where the commandments
are repeated, we find this addition to the fourth commandment: ‘Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the
LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded
you to observe the Sabbath day.’

The Sabbath is the foundation of all other Hebrew festivals. God said that the Sabbath
was to be a holy day. This simply means a day that is set apart or different from other days. It was set apart as a day of
rest.

Pentecost
or shavuot was a sabbath of Sabbaths.The sabbath is a special day. That is what the word holy
means - set apart or special.

Pentecost is the Greek name for the Hebrew
Shavuot or Festival of Weeks. Described in Lev 23: 15, 16: ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the
day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to
the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.’

The 7th day
of the week or sabbath was a special day, and we also find that the 7thmonth of the Hebrew
calendar was a special month. The first day of the 7thmonth was the Festival
of Trumpets. This was also a sabbath. Likewise the 10thday of the 7thmonth was a Sabbath named Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, followed 5 days later, on the 15th
day of the 7thmonth, by the 8 day Festival of Booths or Tabernacles. The first and last days
of this festival were also sabbaths.

The 7thday was special and the 7thmonth was
special, and so also was the 7thyear. It was a sabbatical year. Leviticus
25: 1-4 reads: ‘The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When
you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields,
and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of
rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.’"’

Like the day of Pentecost,
the Year of Jubilee is a sabbath of sabbaths. It is a special year among special years. Its climax was the great Day of
Atonement followed by Jubilee with trumpets sounded throughout the land of Israel, announcing: All Hebrews
slaves were set free. All land returned to its original owner or owner’s family. The day of Pentecost
was the 50th day and was the day following the 7 weeks from the Passover. Likewise, the year of jubilee
occurred after 7 sabbatical years, or 49 years.

The sabbath day was a time of rest for everyone, male, female, masters,
servants and even animals. The seventh year was a time of rest for the land.He did this to
teach and illustrate a vital spiritual lesson.

This brings us to the main subject of this writing. Verses 8 to 55 of Leviticus
25 describe the year of jubilee. The first few verses are as follows: ‘Count off seven sabbaths of years -- seven
times seven years -- so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded
everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim
liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family
property and each to his own clan.’